Mary Sloan, M.K. Sloan, “Maria”, born Mary Davis Key in Denton, Texas in 1924, was an accomplished artist of amazing versatility, workingin acrylic, oil, watercolor, ink, fabric, jewelry, and glass mosaic. Her passion to paint was a vital lifeline in the 90 years of her prolific life, and her spirit will remain alive as she lives always, in nature. Her artwork subject matter ranged from abstract to portraits, to landscapes of Santa Fe. Similar to mosaic patterns, Sloan had a style that few artists attain. Each layer in her paintings is an intentional, repetitive, and planned pattern. These interlocking, and overlapping shapes of rich color, jagged lines, splatters of paint, add depth and texture to achieve the true power of connection she craved in the beauty, life cycles, and meaning of nature.

Mary was born in Denton, Texas January 10, 1924 and lived there until she was 22 years old. Mary's mother and father are Marie Sue Harris and Walter Davis Key. She had no siblings and won her first art contest at 11-years-old. In 1941, after the untimely death of her beloved father, Mary was married to Robert S. Sloan.

In 1946, she moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Mr. Sloan taught mathematics at Del Mar College. Her children are Suzanne, born 1944, a retired artist, and lives with her husband who is also an artist, in Cambria, California. Walter, her son, was born in 1946, and died due to cancer in December of 1957. Carol, born in 1959, resides in San Antonio, Texas with her wife and children. Rebecca, born in 1961, resides with her husband in Manitou Springs, CO.

M.K. Sloan loved and studied music, dance, fashion design, and fine art.  In 1953, at 29 years old, she received her B.F.A in Applied Art with High Honors, from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. In 1956, she was commissioned to do several large facades at the Del Mar Fine Arts Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Mary created the largest exterior Venetian tile mosaic in the United States, with help from the Romic, S.A. Tile Factory, and a team of 15 artisan technicians. Mr. C. Burdette Wolfe, who was the director of the division of fine arts during that time period, had the actual idea for the mosaic, as an adornment for the Fine Arts Building, at Del Mar College. The mosaic masterpiece covers 1000 square feet and is a striking example of modern abstract design, containing millions of 3/4 inch tiles, with 60 colors. Mary also created another mosaic mural, which she designed, and the theme of the mural was based on “History of Fine Arts.” Greek drama was symbolized, with early Egyptian harp, being one of the first musical instruments, as well as a Persian stringed instrument, and drums were to symbolize the early African's contribution to art. Students and staff at the Del Mar College in Corpus Christi are still appreciating these murals to this day.

Mary painted and studied in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico from 1964-1965. While there, Mary received her M.F.A in Applied Art from the University of Guanajuato, Mexico in 1965. Mary taught painting at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas from 1955-1968. She accepted teaching appointments in local schools, and taught art classes to children and adults at the A.D.A.M School of Ancient Music, Art & Dance.

Mary’s paintings are a symphony of color and texture, which reflects the influence of the French Impressionist masters like Cezanne and Monet. She loved listening to all types of music, but preferred jazz and classical, particularly, Ravel and Debussy (one of her favorites was Clair de lune). She said she saw colors when she listened to these composers. Mary is a nationally acclaimed artist who is included in Who's Who of Women Artists of America. She was an art chairperson for the Corpus Christi Fine Arts Center, past president of the south Texas Art League, and has been on the board of directors for the Texas Watercolor Society, Corpus Christi Art Foundation, and the Montessori Society.

Mary has received 47 awards in regional painting competitions, 21 were in first place, in State, Tri State, and National Competitions, including six awards in Texas Watercolor Society Exhibits.  Her awards include First Award for Watercolor from the National Association of Women Artists, in New York City, and a three-year International Travel Tour of the Top American Artists from the American Federation of Artists. She is represented in many museums and collections including: the University of Texas in Austin, Del Mar College and the Centennial Museum in Corpus Christi, the Pearl Brewery and Witte Museum in San Antonio, the Grumbacher Collection in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Howard Hughes Collection in Houston, and the Beaumont.

At the age of 57, in 1981, Mary left Corpus Christi and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mary described the move as a tremendous transformation, like two completely different worlds. In her short statement written in 1996, as she was living in Fort Worth, Texas, she describes how for two years, she looked and looked, did drawings and simply just tried to find herself; to take root and get a grip on a completely different atmosphere. She described Northern New Mexico:

“…where I could see forever. The air is dry and clear, with colors that are strong and rich. The shapes, whether rocks along the Rio Grande or a flaming sunset, are demanding and consuming. This in contrast to the drama I missed in the Gulf of Mexico; the seagulls and the thorny nature.”

Mary discovered not only this new wonderful world a blessing, but the mountains and brilliant nature adopted her soul and she had more passion to paint than she could imagine.  While living in New Mexico, she had paintings selected as one of the Artists of Santa Fe to appear in the Artists Calendar for 1990 and 1991.

While living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mary directed two art galleries, later owning her own gallery, the “M.K. Sloan Gallery.” The Indian Art Culture inspired her to create jewelry in turquoise, gemstone, silver and heishi. She also created original southwestern designs in textile paint on stone-washed and over-dyed denim coats and jackets.

Mary lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico until 1992, at the age of 68, when she then moved back to North Texas to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. While there, she opened her gallery in Dallas, Texas at Olla Podrida from 1994-1996.

Mary moved to Columbia, Missouri in 2000. I had the honor and pleasure of meeting her and her daughter Carol, at the Art in the Park in Columbia. Mary and I visited during our volunteer days at the Art League, and our common ground was a strong passion to paint. We both used it as a necessity to live, and find joy and peace within us. I remember when Mary's basement flooded, and it was full of paintings that she created. I helped move as many as I could to safety. Mary allowed me to display over 30 pieces of her work at Parkade Plaza, from 2000-2010. Parkade Plaza is located in Columbia, Missouri. The Moberly Area Community College, also in the Parkade Plaza, was the home place for Mary's work from 2010-2020.  

Mary had a devastating stroke on December 31, 2002. She had a residual right hemiparesis and apraxia, so she had to start painting with her left hand. She never stopped painting, as art was the dominant force in her life. Her drive and passion to paint kept her going. She lost her speaking voice, but she could still express herself through her paintings.  After her stroke, Mary won a first place in a mixed media show designed for people with disabilities. It was a painting painted with her non-dominant hand.   In August of 2009, Mary moved into assisted living in Florida, and continued to paint almost every day. Mary floated away into the rhythm of the winds, and found rest in the heavenly realm, on August 27, 2014, with her daughter Carol, and her family, by her side. She is missed, but is always seen in the sunsets, the sunrises, and in all the beauty and colors of nature, as her daughter Carol so gracefully expressed, in her memoir to her Mother.

Mary was exposed to a world of environments, which had a great influence on her visual expressions and philosophy. 

Artist Statement
"Discovery”

"For me, painting has been the tangible form of an inner feeling that must be expressed. The drive to express this inner feeling has been generated and formed by the discovery and the awareness of some of the order and disorder of nature, as exemplified in the tender and delicate beauty of a tiny wildflower lost and then discovered in a field of thorny cactus; the awe-inspiring power and order of the moving tides of the ocean with its forces; sometimes creative and sometimes destructive; the beautiful rhythm and the dark and light patterns that can be seen and felt as contrasted by day and night; and the excitement that is produced by the sun in it's magnificent control of hues, values and intensities. The order and disorder of nature help to give direction to my existence and under this influence, I try to search beyond the realm of intellectual logic to create that which seems to me to under-gird life, continuing to search for feelings that must be expressed.

I believe that man can and does create much confusion and disorder without balance or reason. Existence can become divorced from reason and vision. Life can become too complex to be understood. Nature produces many tragedies and there is in much of nature constant struggle or combat, yet beyond, behind, or near a struggle there is usually a stabilizing thing of beauty or a strange conformity which balances and, for me, furnishes a wonderful reality of being--of being a part of nature.

To paint a cliff, a tree, or a seagull struggling against the wind and fighting the power of the unpredictable waves for food, I must feel that I am part of these things. To smell the salt air of the smoke of burning crude oil intensifies my awareness of true reality.

To hear the sounds of nature and the sounds of man, in beautiful harmony or in screeching discord sharpens my sense of being. I believe that life itself must be a part of nature and awareness of the reality of nature comes with experience and discipline. To see, we must look as to hear; we must listen.

Living by the sea, combined with other life's experiences, has shown me the great power and energy of nature and has helped me find an end and beginning for search. When I feel I have lost my footing, a return to nature has always furnished direction and inspiration and a new energy for more exciting discovery. Painting has been my medium for search for a greater awareness. The awareness, of course, my own personal feeling, or emotional reaction to life. At times there is harmony between nature and my being or what I am trying to express. At other times, there is great torment. The challenge is always there. When I feel I have succeeded, there is a temporary contentment but the drive for discovery has always returned."

 M.K. Sloan

Biography Information

Born:                          Denton, Texas

Education:                B.F.A (with high honors) University of Texas (1953)
M.F.A University of Guanajuato, Mexico (1965)

One Artist Shows:

• Olla Podria, Dallas, Texas

• First National, Santa Fe, New Mexico

• First Federal Bank, Santa Fe, New Mexico

• Bright Shawl, San Antonio, Texas

• Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas

• Men of Art Guild, San Antonio, Women Artist of the Year

• Texas Federation of Women’s Club Headquarters, Austin, Texas

• M.D Anderson Reception Room, Houston, Texas

• Instituto Allende Hotel Gallery, San Miquel De Allende, Mexico

• Texas Artists Association, Wichita Falls, Texas

• Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas

• La Sirena, Inc., San Antonio, Texas

Awards:                 

• 47 awards in regional painting competitions; 21 First Place

• 21 awards in State, Tri-State, and National competitions, including 6 awards in Texas Watercolor Society Exhibits

• First Purchase Award, Texas Fine Arts Association-Austin Texas

• Purchase Award, Beaumont Tri-State Annual Grumbacher Award

• First Award for Watercolor, American Association of Women Artists, New York City

• Houston Museum Purchase Award

• Twenty-First Annual Painting and Sculpture, Dallas, Texas

• Sun Carnival Exhibition, El Paso, Texas

• Texas Watercolor Society

• 1989 and 1990 Artists of Santa Fe Calendar

• Artists of New Mexico Book

• American Federation of Arts and U.S Bureau of Information, New York and Washington, D.C (tour of paintings to Europe, Near East, and Latin America, a three-year tour)

• Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas

• South Coast Exhibit, Sarasota, Florida

• American Association of Women Artists and Argent Gallery, New York

• Southwestern Biannual, one of 30 paintings selected to make U.S tour (1962-63), Santa Fe, New Mexico

• American Association of Women Artists, Tour of award-Winning Watercolors, 1963 to 1965

• Society of Four Arts National Juried Exhibition of American Painting, Palm Beach Florida

• Texas Watercolor Society, traveling tours

• Beaumont, Texas Annual Membership Exhibition, La Jolla Museum, California, 1966

Museum Collections, Private Collections, Private Collections:

•  Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas

• Centennial Museum, Corpus Christi, Texas

• Witti Museum, San Antonio, Texas

• Grumbacher Collection, New York City

• Pearl Brewery Collection, San Antonio, Texas

• Beaumont Museum, Beaumont, Texas

• D.D Feldman Collection, Fort Worth, Texas

• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (purchase award)

• Howard Hughes Collection, Houston, Texas

• University of Texas, Austin, Texas

• Coco Cola Company CollectionJefferson Museum, Dallas, Texas

Other private collections

•  Mural Commissions Executed in Mosaic Glass

• Del Mar Fine Arts Center, Corpus Christi, Texas (5 murals)

• Lichtenstein’s Department Store (2 murals)

• Wilson Building (1 mural)

• Other murals for private homes

 Teachings:  

• Teacher, Hamlin Jr. High School

• Teacher, Del Mar College, 1955-1968

• Director, Children’s Art Classes, St. James Elementary School, Church of the Good Shepard, Corpus Christi, Texas

• A.D.A.M., School of Ancient Dance, Art and Music, Spring 1988

Other Professional Activities:

• Illustrator of Journey Through Texas, by James Howard

• On Board of Directors of: Texas Watercolor Society, Cancer Society; Corpus Christi Foundation; Montessori Society

• Elected Member of Santa Fe Society of Artists 1987

Speaker:

• Texas State Techers Association, 1961, 1966

• Artists in Action Program, San Antonio, Texas (Speaker and Demonstrator)

• Corpus Christi Art Foundation on sponsored program with Junior League on Art Appreciation

• Local Chapter of National Organization of Architects

• Artists Association, Loredo, Texas

• Newcomers Organization, Portland, Texas

• Corpus Christi Organization of Jewish Women

• Chairwoman for Corpus Christi Fine Arts Colony

• Past President of South Texas Art League

• Invited to Who’s Who of Women Artists of America

Special Assignments:

• Director of Corpus Christi Art Museum Summer

• Children’s Painting Classes

• Children’s Art Exhibition, Little Theater, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1958-1966

• Director, Native Arts Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1986

• Co-Director, Edith Lambert Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico 1987-1988

• Owner of M.K. Sloan Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

• Owner of M.K Sloan Gallery, Dallas, Texas 1994-96

Featured artist - Parkade Center, Columbia, MO 2003-2010

Featured artist - Moberly Area Community College, Columbia, MO 2010-2020

Featured artist - Whispers For Hope Gallery, Rocheport, MO June -November 2021

The Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art Central Methodist University Fayette, MO

“Winter Wonder’s” January-April 2021

Featured in the David Dike Fine Art 26th Annual Texas Auction October 15, 2022